Thanks so much for this
invitation. I had the pleasure to hear Canon Sabune last night and I sure feel
better about the long title I gave my remarks after hearing his reflections
which mirrored what I hope to convey today.

I recently spent a day in
reflection at an outreach and networking conference sponsored by the Anglican
diocese. I left with a better understanding that the “church” is challenged on
at least three fronts

Øhow to nurture
spirituality outside of the church walls and involve people who have had limited
access to the church,

Øhow to lobby and
convince politicians on questions that involve spending money and,

Øhow to resolve the
dilemma of being torn between the necessity to do downstream work, or charitable
work with the needs for bricks and mortar work upstream.

My remarks are really to engage
you in our work for a national housing campaign. That will involve all three of
the above challenges.

The homeless disaster and the campaign

It might surprise you to know
that, in fact we have a higher homeless population per capita then New York
City. Many of you will know that in 1998 we formed a group called the Toronto
Disaster Relief Committee. We declared homelessness a National Disaster and
began a national campaign which called for 2 solutions.

The first solution we called for
was emergency relief to be channelled into the inner cities where the crisis was
severe. Second, we called for a national housing programme and the 1% solution –
a reinvestment of an additional 1% - the average amount all levels of
governments used to commit to social housing when they were building it. We did
get some of the first, and in yesterday’s throne speech very vague promises of
the second.

I want to talk about disasters,
like hurricanes.

Hurricanes such as the recent ones
in Florida and Haiti leave very obvious destruction and homelessness. They are
also situations that beg for politicians to be leaders, to witness the damage
and to come up with immediate solutions.

Hurricanes of another sort, like
Hurricane Hazel McCallion (as she is known), the Mayor of Mississauga. I saw her
interviewed on TVO the other night. She came to fame for doing what a politician
should do in a disaster. During the Mississauga train derailment, the largest
evacuation in Canadian history, she toured the site, she witnessed the damage
and worked to ensure people were safe and rehoused as soon as possible.

This expectation should also apply
to spiritual leaders.
It certainly applies to Canon Sabune. He sounds like a Hurricane everywhere he
goes, witnessing and fixing problems even if it takes 10 years, like making sure
a school is nowhere near a highway.

Homelessness in our country wasn’t
caused by a hurricane, it was and continues to be a man made problem, a
structural problem and we should expect it to be dealt with.

Most recently, I took Toronto
Mayor David Miller on a tour at night to meet people sleeping outside and to
visit several emergency shelters. I believe that first hand witnessing can make
a huge impact and I’m happy to say that this year, for the first time ever, our
city is planning ahead for winter and has promised to open an additional
emergency shelter.

You are each witnesses and each
have a role to play in urban ministry and social justice and change.

Work on the ground

My first priority is to stay
connected to the people and to the issues. This is equally important for each of
you.

Let me give you some examples of
the issues I am working on: I call them the hotspots. Each of these hotspots
overlaps tremendously with urban ministry.

1)Shelter conditions – our shelters are by and large overcrowded, under
funded, long-term congregate living situations for people. In some cases
emergency shelters, including the Out of the Cold programme, do not meet the UN
standards for refugee camps. This is a pattern repeating itself across the
country. It’s only logical, as homelessness increases, shelter needs increase.
There are huge stresses on this system and the people in them.

2)Outdoor sleeping – people are now sleeping in parks, ravines, tents,
cars, subway grates, in front of city halls, in abandoned buildings, squats,
tent cities. Tent Cities and squats are new forms of survival and they are
occurring everywhere, from Halifax to Vancouver.

3)Reliance on the third sector – for example, the Out of the Cold program.
I want to mention this program again because it is faith based, charity based
and municipal governments have allowed this third sector to replace adequate
shelter. SARS must change our thinking and I’ll come back to this.

4)Plagues – congregate living situations (nursing homes, jails, camps,
shelters) all lead to serious health risks. As Florence Nightingale used to say
“nurse the room” – well when you have hundreds of people using the same room,
whether it’s a day time drop-in, a soup kitchen or a shelter you face special
problems. Conditions which stress the immune system (such as cancer, diabetes,
lack of sleep, hepatitis) increase the risk of contracting other illness and
heighten the risk for tuberculosis and other infections. Every year a new menace
occurs. We saw the impact of the Norwalk virus on shelter users who did not have
adequate access to toilets. We saw the impact of a TB outbreak that killed
several homeless men. We now see the impact of a massive bedbug infestation in
our shelter system. I remain astonished at what we have not learned yet from
SARS. As a nurse colleague of mine, Barb Craig, has said – what would have
happened if the first case of SARS had walked into a downtown hospital like St.
Michael’s Hospital? What if homeless people were exposed or contracted SARS,
what if they slept one night in a Salvation Army shelter, the next day used a
soup kitchen, in the afternoon went to a drop-in centre, in the evening had
dinner and slept at an Out of the Cold – which the next day is closed
necessitating them to go to the next Out of the Cold!

5)Dying and deaths – there are now huge palliative care needs for this
population. Many years ago I knew I was going to way too many funerals for a
community health nurse. Today, I now know that we need to deal with a shameless
gap in palliative care needs of homeless men and women. Each month now we add
between six and eight names to the monthly homeless memorial at the Church of
the Holy Trinity beside the Eaton Centre. I was however shocked to learn that
the death rate in communities like Sudbury and Ottawa is comparable to
Toronto’s. As my colleague Beric German has said “homelessness is a national
disaster, but the number of homeless deaths is a national scandal’.

Homeless people need freedom
from this disaster, and that means they need housing and income levels that you
can live on and hope.

Our challenge is to bring these
principles of social justice to life in our day to day work.

The powers that be
try to make these issues so complex. But really it’s about housing the homeless,
taking care of our children and, making sure people have enough money to live
on.

How can we bring these social
determinants of health to life? Are our schools teaching this material or are
our students only getting a few hours on homelessness and it’s about the so
called ‘mental patient’ who goes off his drugs and becomes violent? We
must not just talk the talk, we must walk the walk.

Perhaps most important is the role you
can play to move the political logjam.
Making housing happen.

This is usually what people really
want to know. Are we getting closer to winning a comprehensive national housing
and homelessness strategy? Everywhere I go groups are lining up wanting to do
housing in their community. So now what can you do?

Sign on to
the TDRC list serve for regular info. www.tdrc.net

Before the
end of November create a delegation to meet with your MP and MPP and tell them
as graphically as you can what you witness. If you do one thing, this is the
most important.

Can you
participate on National Housing Day (this is the day that the Big City Mayors
signed on to the declaration that homelessness is a national disaster)? We’re
doing a 2 night sleep out Nov. 21 and 22 and will need bodies, tents, sleeping
bags, food.

Maybe your
church can sponsor the Homeless Vigil at the Church of the Holy Trinity.
Monies are always useful for the meal, for flowers or candles.

Can you
support a local housing project?

In closing, I’m grateful to be
here speaking with you. I believe you have the potential and the power to make
great inroads in this province, at this time. I look forward to seeing the
power of your prayers and your political influence in truly making a difference
in our world.